Moderator: Aldus Marius
By the way, about Occitan, I'm pretty sure it still exists. But France has an infamous reputation among linguists of squelching minority languages ruthlessly (not only Occitan but also Basque, Breton, German and Flemish-Dutch).
Caius Durnovarius Brutus wrote:I must say that while on a personal level I love the idea of Latin as a common language for the EU I can see many major problems. The English certainly would have a blue fit at the suggestion.
Caius Durnovarius Brutus wrote:You mention the French record of squashing minority languages and I suspect that this is probably true of all the majority races in Europe to some extent. Within the UK concerted efforts have been made for centuries to obliterate and/or discredit non-English indigenous languages. Cornish and Manx barely survive despite great efforts on the parts of their communities and are spoken only by very small numbers with virtually no access to the media, Gaelic does slightly better but not much and Scots is generally ignored or characterised (incorrectly) as merely a debased dialect of English.
Caius Durnovarius Brutus wrote: Welsh - which I speak after a fashion - is showing some signs of recovery with about a million speakers and a television channel but this is rather to the consternation of the English speaking populations of both England and Wales.
Caius Durnovarius Brutus wrote:I am conscious that this is a little off topic but I do think that it is somehow in the nature of majority languages to seek dominance over any perceived rivals. Certainly the English would never happily accept French or German as a lingua franca, but then again the French wouldn't want English and so on. The problem with Latin may be more to do with history and practicality. In this country, in the public consciousness, Latin is linked more with the Catholic church than with Ancient Rome and is, therefore viewed with some suspicion. I think it is also perceived as being very difficult to learn. I do wonder whether a modified language such as Esperanto might be more practical in the final analysis.
Caius Durnovarius Brutus wrote:As regards how to introduce a new common language it is possible to do.
I mentioned the revival of Welsh above and this is largely due to concerted efforts on the part of activists to re-introduce the language to areas where it had almost died out. Similar techniques were used to those developed, to teach Hebrew, by the Jews who migrated to Palestine after the Second World War. Primarily intensive teaching, particularly at an early age, and propaganda. Of course it does have to be realised that in both these cases there was a very strong element of national/racial pride which would be lacking in the case of Latin or Esperanto.
All in all, for myself, I feel that the EU does desperately need a common language which is not an existing national one. The problem is that every candidate, Latin included , seems to throw up more questions than solutions.
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